/auto-paper-improvement-loop

name: auto-paper-improvement-loop
description: "Autonomously improve a generated paper via GPT-6-Astra xhigh review → implement fixes → recompile, for 2 rounds. Use when user says \"改论文\", \"improve paper\", \"论文润色循环\", \"auto improve\", or wants to iteratively polish a generated paper."
argument-hint: "[paper-directory] [— style-ref: <source>] [— edit-whitelist <path>]"
allowed-tools: Bash(*), Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob, mcp__codex__codex, mcp__codex__codex-reply

Auto Paper Improvement Loop: Review → Fix → Recompile

> 🔒 **Do not wrap this skill in `/loop`, `/schedule`, or `CronCreate`.** It > already loops internally (review → fix → recompile) with its own round > structure and a deliberate fresh-reviewer bias guard each round (no > `codex-reply`). Re-asking it to "improve the paper" on a > wall-clock timer produces no new signal — quality changes when the *review* > changes, not when the clock ticks — and a timed re-run that also accepts its > own output to decide when to stop crosses into self-acquittal > (`acceptance-gate.md`). Schedule the *external wait that precedes it*, not the > improvement loop. See > [`shared-references/external-cadence.md`](../shared-references/external-cadence.md).

Autonomously improve the paper at: **$ARGUMENTS**

Context

This skill is designed to run **after** Workflow 3 (`/paper-plan` → `/paper-figure` → `/paper-write` → `/paper-compile`). It takes a compiled paper and iteratively improves it through external LLM review.

Unlike `/auto-review-loop` (which iterates on **research** — running experiments, collecting data, rewriting narrative), this skill iterates on **paper writing quality** — fixing theoretical inconsistencies, softening overclaims, adding missing content, and improving presentation.

Constants

• **MAX_ROUNDS = 2** — Two rounds of review→fix→recompile. Empirically, Round 1 catches structural issues (4→6/10), Round 2 catches remaining presentation issues (6→7/10). Diminishing returns beyond 2 rounds for writing-only improvements.
• **REVIEWER_MODEL = `gpt-6-astra`** — Model used via Codex MCP for paper review.
• **REVIEWER_BIAS_GUARD = true** — When `true`, every review round uses a fresh `mcp__codex__codex` thread with no prior review context. Never use `mcp__codex__codex-reply` for review rounds. Set to `false` only for deliberate debugging of the legacy behavior. **Empirical evidence:** running the same paper with `codex-reply` + "since last round we did X" prompts inflated scores from real 3/10 → fake 8/10 across multiple rounds; switching to fresh threads recovered the true 3/10 assessment.
• **REVIEW_LOG = `PAPER_IMPROVEMENT_LOG.md`** — Cumulative log of all rounds, stored in paper directory.
• **HUMAN_CHECKPOINT = false** — When `true`, pause after each round's review and present score + weaknesses to the user. The user can approve fixes, provide custom modification instructions, skip specific fixes, or stop early. When `false` (default), runs fully autonomously.
• **EDIT_WHITELIST = `null`** — Optional path to a YAML/JSON whitelist file constraining which paths and operations the fix-implementation step may touch. When `null` (default), all edits proceed unconstrained. When set via `— edit-whitelist <path>` (also accepts `— edit_whitelist <path>`), the loop loads the file at startup and consults it before each edit; rejected edits are logged to `PAPER_IMPROVEMENT_LOG.md` rather than silently dropped. See "Optional: Edit Whitelist" below.

> 💡 Override: `/auto-paper-improvement-loop "paper/" — human checkpoint: true`

Optional: Style reference (`— style-ref: <source>`, opt-in)

Lets the user steer **structural fixes only** during improvement (section reordering hints, paragraph length nudges, figure density adjustments) toward a reference paper. **Default OFF — when the user does not pass `— style-ref`, do nothing differently from before.**

Only when `— style-ref: <source>` appears in `$ARGUMENTS`, run the helper FIRST, before the loop starts:

# Resolve $STYLE_HELPER via the canonical strict-safe chain (see
# shared-references/integration-contract.md §2). Policy A — gate:
# unresolved helper means --style-ref cannot be satisfied, so abort.
cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)" || exit 1
if [ -z "${ARIS_REPO:-}" ] && [ -f .aris/installed-skills.txt ]; then
    ARIS_REPO=$(awk -F'\t' '$1=="repo_root"{print $2; exit}' .aris/installed-skills.txt 2>/dev/null) || true
fi
if [ -z "${ARIS_REPO:-}" ] && [ -f "$HOME/.aris/repo" ]; then
    ARIS_REPO=$(cat "$HOME/.aris/repo" 2>/dev/null) || true
fi
STYLE_HELPER=".aris/tools/extract_paper_style.py"
[ -f "$STYLE_HELPER" ] || STYLE_HELPER="tools/extract_paper_style.py"
[ -f "$STYLE_HELPER" ] || { [ -n "${ARIS_REPO:-}" ] && STYLE_HELPER="$ARIS_REPO/tools/extract_paper_style.py"; }
[ -f "$STYLE_HELPER" ] || {
  echo "ERROR: extract_paper_style.py not resolved at .aris/tools/, tools/, \$ARIS_REPO/tools/, or via ~/.aris/repo." >&2
  echo "       Fix: rerun bash tools/install_aris.sh or smart_update.sh (refreshes ~/.aris/repo), export ARIS_REPO, or copy the helper to tools/." >&2
  echo "       --style-ref cannot be satisfied; aborting." >&2
  exit 1
}
STYLE_STATUS=0
CACHE=$(python3 "$STYLE_HELPER" --source "<source>") || STYLE_STATUS=$?
case "$STYLE_STATUS" in
  0) ;;                                       # use $CACHE/style_profile.md as structural guidance for the FIX phase only
  2) echo "warning: style-ref skipped (missing optional dep)" >&2 ;;
  3) echo "error: --style-ref source failed; aborting loop" >&2 ; exit 1 ;;
  *) echo "error: helper failed unexpectedly; aborting loop" >&2 ; exit 1 ;;
esac

Sources accepted: local TeX dir / file, local PDF, arXiv id, http(s) URL. Overleaf URLs/IDs are rejected — clone via `/overleaf-sync setup <id>` first and pass the local clone path.

**Strict rules** (full contract in `tools/extract_paper_style.py` docstring):

• Use `style_profile.md` only during the **fix-implementation** phase, to nudge st